On Tuesday afternoon, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to end the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump. Special Counsel Jack Smith filed such a request on Monday to drop all of his cases against Trump, as Townhall has been covering.
As The Hill reported about such an update:
The order fulfills a request from Smith to end an appeal in the case as it relates to Trump though the case continues for his two co-defendants – valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira.
The move comes after Smith similarly moved to dismiss without prejudice Trump’s election interference case, in both cases noting Trump’s coming inauguration and a DOJ policy that bars the prosecution of sitting presidents.
In the classified documents case, Smith was fighting a ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon that tossed the case, determining that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed.
In mid-July, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, raising concerns about the appointment of Smith as special counsel. It was a decision that Smith relentlessly appealed.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion for the Trump v. United States decision that came down on July 1, raised the idea that Smith was not constitutionally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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The Hill also spoke to a supposed chance of success that Smith would have against Judge Cannon:
Legal observers saw the appeal as having a fair chance of success. Cannon’s decision counters 50 years of prior rulings regarding special counsel regulations, and the court has previously reversed one of her decisions.
Nonetheless, it brings to an end for Trump a serious case focused largely on his conduct after leaving the White House. It was potentially the stronger of Smith’s two cases after a Supreme Court ruling that determined former presidents retain broad immunity for their conduct while in office.
It goes unmentioned in such an excerpt that there were plenty of concerns with the classified documents case. Close to two years after Mar-a-Lago was raided in August 2022, it was revealed that the FBI was authorized to use "deadly force." Prosecutors also botched how they handled the case against co-defendant Walt Nauta, referenced in the excerpt from The Hill above. Further, a letter in May from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), which we covered at the time, expressed concerns about how classified documents obtained from Trump's residence were manipulated or altered.
Then there's how President Joe Biden himself was found to have mishandled classified documents, by Special Counsel Robert Hur, though Hur declined to charge Biden, as he was considered too old and would come off as too sympathetic.
The other legal cases against Trump also look to be failing. Judge Juan Merchan last Friday moved to delay sentencing indefinitely in the "hush money" case. Further, the Georgia Court of Appeals last week cancelled the disqualification hearing for Fulton County DA Fani Willis in her case against Trump over the 2020 election. Oral arguments were supposed to take place next month.
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